The present invention relates to tennis and the like rackets.
Tennis rackets have a user-gripped handle from which extends a throat which in turn extends to a head having a face or hitting surface formed by a matrix of tensioned strings. The throat is typically formed by a single central longitudinal yoke and/or a bifurcated yoke having a pair of spaced sides extending between the handle and the head. In the latter type of racket, the throat sides are either straight or are concave and bow inwardly towards each other.
In the present invention, a throat is provided with a pair of outer convex curved sides bowed away from each other. This widens the bridge at the base of the head between the throat sides, to widen the sweet spot and power zone by bringing additional longitudinal main strings through the bridge and providing greater uniformity in the tensioning of such strings.
In combination with the wider bridge, straight flat sections are provided along the inner periphery of the tip of the head opposite the bridge and along the opposing facing sides of the head between the bridge and tip. The sweet spot is widened both longitudinally tip to base and laterally side to side, and the uniformity in tensioning of the longitudinal main strings is complemented by uniformity in tensioning of cross strings throughout the sweet spot area, resulting in a substantially larger sweet spot and power zone area than conventional tennis rackets.
The outer periphery of the convex throat side merges into the outer periphery of the head along a continuous unbroken curve of a positive radius of curvature without any transitions of negative radius of curvature. The continuous curvature of the head outer periphery in combination with the noted flat sections along the inner periphery of the head sides adds bulk, though not necessarily weight, to the head which in combination with the widened spacing of the convex throat sides at the head reduces torsional twisting torque moments on the user'hand due to off-center hits.